Internally divided water pipe and diverter valve therefor

ABSTRACT

Pipe for crop irrigation—has inlet and outlet along length with internal flexible longitudinal dividing wall movable between first flow position and second position where fluid is unable to pass through outlet.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an internally divided water pipe and/or to adiverter valve which can be attached thereto. The invention will bedescribed with reference to its use in water irrigation, but it shouldbe appreciated that the pipe can be used for other liquids, or evenfluids.

BACKGROUND ART

In crop irrigation, long pipes are laid to convey water from a watersupply to the field. The pipe can be one or more kilometers long andwater outlets are spaced along the pipe. Smaller diameter hoses can beattached to the outlets and irrigation equipment can be attached to thehose.

These long pipes are also called “flumes”. It is known to have flexibleflumes which can be made from a rubberised canvas, flexible plastic, andthe like. These flumes can be flattened and rolled up when not in use.

One current disadvantage with these extremely long pipes is that it istime consuming to open and close the various valves spaced along thelength of the pipe, it being appreciated that the pipe can be severalkilometers long.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a pipe which can replace currentpipes or flumes and where the fluid outlets or valves can be turned offfrom a central location without having to separately turn off each valvealong the pipe.

The present invention is also directed to a diverter valve that canachieve this function.

It is an object of the invention to provide a pipe and/or a divertervalve which may overcome the abovementioned disadvantages and providethe public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form, the invention resides in a pipe to convey a fluid, the pipehaving at least one fluid outlet along its length, the pipe having aninternal flexible longitudinal dividing wall which can move between afirst flow position where fluid can pass along the pipe and through thesaid fluid outlet and a second position where fluid is unable to passthrough the at least one outlet.

In this manner, the internal flexible dividing wall can be made to movebetween its first flow position where water can pass along the pipe andthrough one or more of the fluid outlets, and a second flow positionwhere water can pass along the pipe but is prevented from passingthrough one or more of the outlets.

The internal dividing wall can be made to move between its positions bydiverting water along one or the other side of the internal flexibledividing wall. If water is passed along one side of the dividing wall,the wall will allow water to pass through the outlets, while if thewater is passed along the other side of the dividing wall, water isprevented from passing through the outlet.

The pipe can be made flexible such that it can adopt a “lay flat”configuration when not in use. The pipe can be made from any suitablematerial which can include polyethylenes, polypropylenes, laminatedplastics, rubberised canvas, and the like. Of course, a rigid orsubstantially rigid pipe can also be used.

The pipe has at least one fluid outlet and preferably includes a numberof outlets spaced along the pipe. These outlets may be fitted with stopvalves and various coupling arrangements can be present to coupleirrigation equipment to the pipe.

The internal dividing wall is flexible, and can be either flexible butsubstantially inextensible, or flexible and extensible (such that theinternal dividing wall can stretch if required).

An advantage with having the internal wall flexible as opposed to rigidis that the wall can flex from one side of the pipe to the other side ofthe pipe. This means that when fluid flows along one side of the wall,the wall flexes such that almost the entire internal diameter of thepipe can be used. If the wall was rigid, this would result in anundesirable reduction in the available flow of water.

The internal wall can be formed by manufacturing a tube of flexible pipeand attaching to the outside of the tube a longitudinal wall (anembodiment of which is illustrated in FIG. 3).

To move the internal wall, a diverter valve can be provided, and inanother form of the invention, there is provided a diverter valveattachable to a pipe of the type having an internal flexiblelongitudinal dividing wall which can move between a first flow positionwhere fluid can pass along the pipe and through the said fluid outletand a second position where fluid is unable to pass through the outlet,the valve having a valve member which is attachable to an end of thedividing wall and which can move the end of the dividing wall betweenopposed sides of the pipe, thereby allowing fluid to selectively passalong each side of the dividing wall.

The diverter valve can pull an end of the dividing wall between upperand lower positions which divert water into each side of the pipe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to thefollowing drawings in which

FIG. 1 illustrates a pipe having an internal wall which has been movedto one side of the pipe to allow water to pass through the pipe andthrough a series of outlets spaced along the pipe.

FIG. 2 illustrates the pipe of FIG. 1 where the internal wall has beenmoved to the other side of the pipe to prevent water from flowingthrough the outlets.

FIG. 3 is a section view showing one preferred manner of manufacturingthe pipe.

FIG. 4 illustrates the pipe of FIG. 3 where the internal dividing wallhas moved.

FIG. 5 shows a diverter valve according to an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a section view of a diverter valve fitted to a pipe.

FIG. 7 shows a diverter valve of slightly different design fitted to apipe.

FIG. 8 shows a sealing arrangement in the diverter valve.

FIG. 9 illustrates another diverter valve.

FIG. 10 shows how the divider wall is attached to the arm of thediverter valve of FIG. 9.

BEST MODE

Referring to the drawings and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is showna pipe 10. Pipe 10 in the embodiment is formed from flexible plastic andhas an internal diameter of about 30 cm and a wall thickness of about1-2 mm. Pipe 10 can be flattened and rolled up when not in use, and canbe several kilometers long.

Openings 11 are spaced along the outer wall of pipe 10 and valves orother connections can be attached to opening 11.

Pipe 10 has an internal flexible longitudinal dividing wall 12. Wall 12extends entirely along the inside of pipe 10 and can be made from thesame flexible material as the pipe.

Internal wall 12 is flexible and can move between a first flow positionillustrated in FIG. 1 where wall 12 is adjacent one side of pipe 10, anda second position illustrated in FIG. 2 where wall 12 has moved to theopposite side of pipe 10.

To allow this movement, wall 12 can be formed from stretchable material,although it is at this stage desired that the wall is formed fromflexible substantially inextensible material, so the width of wall 12will need to be longer than the internal diameter of pipe 10 to allowthe wall to move between its positions.

One advantage of this movement of internal wall 12 is that the useablediameter of the pipe is virtually unchanged, and this is illustrated inFIGS. 1 and 2.

For instance, in FIG. 1, wall 12 has moved entirely to its one side andwater can flow virtually through the entire internal diameter of pipe 10and out openings 11.

However, when wall 12 is moved to its position illustrated in FIG. 2,water can still flow virtually along the entire internal volume of pipe10, but wall 12 in the position of FIG. 2, prevents water from flowingthrough openings 11.

The internal dividing wall 12 is sealed adjacent its longitudinal edgessuch that water cannot pass from one side of wall 12 to the other sideof wall 12 while flowing along the pipe.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate one preferred way in which the divided pipe canbe made. Referring to FIG. 3, a flexible tube 13 is formed and an outerlongitudinal sheet 14 is attached to tube 13 at longitudinal edges 15.This, in essence, makes the top part 16 of tube 13 the internal flexiblewall, and this is illustrated in FIG. 2 which shows wall 16 having movedto one of its positions.

FIG. 5 illustrates a diverter valve 17 which is attached to one end ofpipe 10 to divert water either along channel A or channel B (see FIGS.1-4). Simply stated, diverter valve 17 pushes the flexible wall 12between the positions illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by attaching wall 12to a valve member 18 (valve member 18 being internal and betterillustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7).

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, there are shown two slightly differentdiverter valves which function in the same way. Referring initially toFIG. 6, diverter valve 17 has an outer rigid tubular wall 19, and oneend of the flexible pipe 10 is attached to wall 19 either by a clamp, bywelding, or any other suitable means. Once attached, the internal wall12 is looped around an edge of valve member 18 and fastened by anysuitable method at 20.

Valve member 18 can be manually moved via an external handle 21 (seeFIG. 5) between an upper position illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, and alower position where valve member 18 has been rotated in the directionof arrow 22 to a lower position. As valve member 18 moves, it will movewall 12 between an upper position illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 and alower position (not shown). In the upper position illustrated in FIGS. 6and 7, water flows in the direction of arrow 23 along one side of wall12, while when in the lower position, water flows again in the directionof arrow 23 along the other side of wall 12.

In the embodiment, diverter valve 17 has a flow portion 24 whichfunctions to redirect water flow away from the edge portion 25 of valvemember 18 to prevent water from passing along the wrong side of wall 12.

FIG. 8 shows a sealing arrangement. Referring to FIG. 8, there isillustrated wall 19 of diverter valve 17, a portion of valve member 18,an axle 26, “O” ring seals 27, 28, a split pin 29, and collar 30.

The flexible pipe allows internal wall to be simply moved from side toside to seal all openings 11 thereby doing away with the requirement toseparately shut off each opening. The diverter valve 17 is a simple yetreliable mechanism to move internal wall 12 between its positions.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show a valve member 18 formed from two parts 18A, 18B(see FIG. 10), between which can be sandwiched dividing wall 12. Springclips 30 are used to hold parts 18A, 18B together.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modificationsmay be made to the embodiment described without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A pipe to convey a fluid, comprising an inlet andat least one fluid outlet along its length, the pipe having an internalflexible longitudinal dividing wall movable between a first flowposition where fluid can pass along the pipe and through the at leastone fluid outlet and a second position where fluid is unable to passthrough the at least one outlet, a first flexible tubular member and asecond flexible elongate rectangular sheet member where the longitudinaledges of the sheet member are attached to the exterior of the firstflexible tubular member at spaced apart positions wherein the sheetmember encloses a minor arc of the first flexible tubular member in afluid tight manner leaving a major arc of the tubular member unenclosedsuch that the sheet member and the major arc of the tubular memberdefine an outer wall of the pipe and the minor arc of the tubular memberis the internal dividing wall.
 2. The pipe of claim 1, having amultiplicity of said fluid outlets spaced along the pipe.
 3. The pipe ofclaim 1, wherein the dividing wall seals against the at least one fluidoutlet when in the second position.
 4. The pipe of claim 1, wherein adiverter valve is attached to the inlet side of the pipe, the divertervalve being able to move the dividing wall between its said first flowposition and said second position.
 5. The pipe of claim 4, wherein thediverter valve has a valve member which is attachable to an end of thedividing wall and which can move the end of the dividing wall betweenopposed sides of the pipe, thereby allowing fluid to selectively passalong each side of the dividing wall between the said first flowposition and the said second position.
 6. A diverter valve for a pipe toconvey a fluid, the pipe having an inlet and at least one fluid outletalong its length, the pipe having an internal flexible longitudinaldividing wall which can move between a first flow position where fluidcan pass along the pipe and through the at least one fluid outlet and asecond position where fluid is unable to pass through the at least oneoutlet, and a diverter valve which is attached to the inlet side of thepipe, the diverter valve being able to move the dividing wall betweenits said first flow position and said second position.
 7. A pipe toconvey a fluid, the pipe having an inlet and at least one fluid outletalong its length, the pipe having an internal flexible longitudinaldividing wall movable between a first flow position where fluid can passalong the pipe and through the at least one fluid outlet and a secondposition where fluid is unable to pass through the at least one outletthe pipe comprises a flexible outer wall and the internal flexiblelongitudinal dividing wall, wherein said internal flexible longitudinaldividing wall is connected to said outer wall at two spaced locations toseparate the inner surface of the outer wall into two arcs.
 8. The pipeof claim 7, wherein said two spaced locations are substantiallydiametrically opposed.
 9. A pipe to convey fluids, comprising: an outerwall having an inner surface, an inner flexible wall attached to theinner surface of said outer wall at two spaced locations, said innerflexible wall dividing the inner surface of said outer wall into a firstarc and a second arc, and a fluid outlet in said second arc wherein saidinner flexible wall has a first position covering said first arc and asecond position covering said second arc.
 10. The pipe of claim 9,wherein said second arc and inner flexible wall are formed from atubular member and said first arc is formed by a sheet attached to theexterior of the tubular member at two spaced apart location.
 11. Thepipe of claim 9, wherein said inner flexible wall seals against thefluid outlet.
 12. The pipe of claim 9, further comprising a divertervalve for moving said inner flexible wall from said first position tosaid second position.